Looked back to see 'the south tower collapse'

MADISON Laurie and Walter Raymond and their family took up
residence on Greenwood Avenue this spring, coming to Madison from
Lawrenceville, Ga. Walter Raymond works in Manhattan as a
production manager for a design consultancy firm. His office on
Franklin Street is about nine blocks away from what were the World
Trade Center's twin towers. Raymond was a witness to the
destruction of the towers in the terrorist attack Tuesday, Sept.
11, and he escaped without injury, although not without incident.
The day after, he was still feeling the need to express his
experience, to put it into words. He thought of his friend and
former neighbor in Lawrenceville, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert Pelon, a
25-year veteran of the Marine Corps.

Here is what Raymond wrote to Pelon in an e-mail on Sept.
12:

"Bob, Deb, Kate, Brian:

"I have no doubt, Bob, that in your service to our country you
have seen a great many things that you have kept to yourself and
dealt with those things with quiet anguish. Yesterday was such a
day for me.

"My office is about nine blocks north of the Trade Towers. From
the corner of my street, looking south, one could see the top 50
floors as plainly as your hand in front of your face. It was a
beautiful, cloud-free day. Coming in on a ferry from New Jersey
that is my preferred mode of transportation nowadays; a little r
& r before and after work I land every day at the foot of the
WTC and walk uptown from there along the Hudson with the gleaming
Towers behind me. They have become a fixture of my daily life, as
they have become a fixture, an icon, in the eyes of the world as
the quintissential personification of New York: strong, enduring, a
beacon to the world of industry and hard work.

"I heard the whine of a jet with that Doppler-effect swoosh of
air sound then a crash. I looked at a fellow employee and confirmed
what I heard, and we went out the back door and ran to the corner
of Leonard Street and Hudson Street. There were people in the
street gazing up in the direction of the Towers, hands clasped over
their mouths.

"I got to the corner and looked south to see the North Tower the
one with the spire had a huge hole about 80 floors up, with flames
and smoke belching out. I stood staring, trying to understand how a
plane could hit the building, watching the flames rise in floors,
seeing people waving white flags from the topmost floors.

"In my mind my thoughts were, 'How are they going to put this
fire out? How will they repair this building? Scaffolding? From the
inside? How are these people going to get down? I remember Steve
McQueen in The Towering Inferno tied himself to a fixture in the
top floors of the building when they released water from a large
tank at the roof of the building. When will they release that tank?
And I hope all in the building have the presence of mind to tie
themselves off to some thing, as Steve McQueen did'.

"These repairman like thoughts were erased from my mind when the
South Tower exploded out in a hail of glass, black smoke and fire.
The angle I was at did not allow me to see the plane, coming from
the south, impact the tower.

"I went back inside to call my wife. The TV was on and was
replaying the second plane crash. We were all silent and sick. The
CEO came to the front, turned off the TV and said, 'Go home, take
your cell phones and your laptops and go home.' We all probably
would have stood staring at the chaos for hours more had that man
not come to the fore and directed my imbecile brain into action. I
did just as he instructed. On my way out, a girl in my office asked
if I could get her to Hoboken, and I said, 'Let's move.'

"We walked to the River and then south towards the WTC ferry
landing. I did not want to take the subway and I knew that Penn
Station would be a madhouse terrorism on the brain and all. The
ferry to Hoboken, all things considered, was my best shot. All
along the River there were people looking, crying, talking on cell
phones, all with the two Towers burning above. We got on a very
crowded ferry t hat left immediately we boarded. The ballet that
the ferries orchestrated was impressive; as one filled, another
came to take its place. These same angry, insolent men who ran
ferries across the Hudson that morning became lifesavers. And they
proved themselves up to the task, getting thousands across the
Hudson to New Jersey.

"About 300 yards from the Hoboken slip, I was looking back at
the two Towers burning when I saw the south Tower collapse.
Soundless, it just came down in a heap. The smoke and ash and
debris overcame the ferry landing where, just moments before, my
companion and I had boarded the ferry I was on.

"The rest you no doubt saw. I have an empty feeling today,
trying to reconcile my feelings with the events of the
day.

"All here are well; kids are fed and in school; there's work to
be done in the attic. And so it goes.

"All our love, Walter, Laurie, Max, Deric and Eli."

(Editor's Note: The office building where Walter Raymond works
suffered only minor damage and was scheduled to reopen Monday,
Sept. 17, albeit under very tight security.)

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In recent weeks, Long Hill Township and Watchung Borough passed ordinances allowing their police departments to be able to apply for surplus equipment from the Department of Defense. Long Hill recently procured a Humvee to use in times of flooding, which Watchung states as the reason they are getting into the program. However, in cities around the country, police forces have used the program to obtain military gear, such as weapons and armor.
For more background, go to the link below
http://www.newjerseyhills.com/echoes-sentinel/news/watchung-police-department-hopes-to-receive-equipment-from-department-of/article_12ad002a-92b3-5449-a2cc-4b2cf0ce4339.html